Elkhart police hope to have 3-D crime scene technology soon

They say it will greatly reduce how long it takes to process a crime or crash scene.

A laser scanner will take a three dimensional image of that scene.

The Elkhart Police Department is looking at the system known as the faro laser scanner.

It can document a crash or crime scene to map out, measure and preserve exactly how it looked at that moment.

It takes a three dimensional image and photographs as well.

“You can maneuver around any type of scene. It allows us the ability to move around and look at things and present things from different angles. It takes a scan, it takes a photograph and then combines the images,” said Sergeant Chris Snyder.

He said among other things, the new system will greatly reduce the amount of time needed to process a crime scene. It will reduce the number of officers needed to make that happen, as well as save money on the time that it would have taken to process the scene.

The system will combine a number of tasks that crime scene investigations currently do, including taking photographs at the scene

“They have to measure everything that they think is pertinent, whether that’s the location of a couch, television or evidence. They have to map it all out, so it’s very, very time consuming. That information is then taken back to police headquarters,” said Snyder. “Then they come back here, once they have their rough drafts and scratches and then they have to transfer it to graph paper and basically recreate that two dimensional scene.”

This system once in place could be used in a trial, shown to jurors or in a grand jury.

“The nice thing about a 3-D image, is that you can manipulate and walk people through a crime scene, as opposed to a piece of paper and some pictures. It’s certainly going to advance, what they see happening,” said Snyder.